Local Audubon Society members last week found an uptick of birds in their annual count in Leelanau County.

The birdwatching society’s annual “Christmas Bird Count” is conducted all over the U.S. The official bird count in Leelanau County occurs in the Lake Leelanau area and this year was held on Dec. 23.

Area residents who participated in the count included Alice VanZoeren, Leonard Graf, Bruce Bodjack, Nate Crane, Mary Siladke, Pat O’Connor, Kathy Johnson, Charles Johnson, Jo Kreag, John Kreag , Glenn Kreag, Norm Bistodeau, Kate Trainer, Heather Peyton and Tom Pierson. Bob Carstens helped coordinate the effort and compiled the data.

The group counted 48 different species this season – the same number as last season. In all, they counted 6,042 individual birds over a 24-hour period.

Last year, they counted 5,239 birds. The year before, on Dec. 29, 2005, the birdwatching group counted 54 species and 5,635 individual birds during a 24-hour period.

The top three species over a three-year period included Black Capped Chickadees, American Crows and European Starlings. Last week, the chickadees topped the list at 390 birds counted, followed by 333 crows and 263 starlings. The year before, the crows topped the list at 1,006, followed by 594 starlings and 432 chickadees.

According to preliminary data provided by Carstens, none of the top “Priority Watch List” birds for Michigan was included in the Dec. 23 Lake Leelanau count. According to the Audubon Society, 32 of the 178 bird species identified as in need to “top priority conservation” spend at least part of their year in Michigan.

And one of the top six “Priority Watch List” birds is known to visit Lake Leelanau, although one species – the Piping Plover – is known to visit other parts of Leelanau County, notably the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Also on the list is the Yellow Rail, the Buff-breasted Sandpiper, the Golden-Winged Warbler, the Kirtland’s Warbler, and the Henslow’s Sparrow.

Preliminary data provided by the Audubon Society indicated that four bald eagles may have been spotted in the Lake Leelanau area on Dec. 23, 2007. In 2005, only two bald eagles were spotted in the Lake Leelanau area during the annual count.